Watches have to evoke emotions

Like so many others in this wireless, digital age, when Alex Kay needs to know the time, he checks his cellphone.

“A watch just seems unnecessary,” says Kay, an 18-year-old in Toronto. “I guess if I was 40 and wanted something shiny, it’s a way of saying ‘Look at my career on my wrist.’ But I can't really see the need for it.”

With clocks available on cellphones, laptops and PDAs, the relevancy of the wristwatch has been questioned, its existence cast in doubt. But those who work in the industry dismiss concerns that a generation growing up in an age of portable technology will shun watches outright. The world is divided, after all, between those who view the wrist as prime real estate for a style or status statement, and those who simply never will.

“Since we opened in 1999, we’ve heard all about the ‘death of the watch,’” says Darren Bondar, owner of retailer Watch It!. “We're seeing the opposite.”

Bondar started his fashion accessories boutique in Edmonton, carrying pieces priced between $55 and $1,500, and has since expanded to 21 stores across the country (16 are franchises). He says that while Canadians don't tend to collect watches like Europeans do, it’s not unusual for his customers to own more than a single timepiece.

Jean-Daniel Pasche, president of the federation, says 2010 was its second best year in its history. He adds the popularity of alternative time-telling devices barely registers as an issue when compared to other factors.

“Watches have to evoke emotions, like clothes and cars do, and appeal to the tastes of the consumer,” he says. “As long as people are attracted to beautiful things, they will want watches.”
Darroch Boniface, a 28-year-old in Toronto who works in the wireless phone industry, concurs.

“I wear a Movado and it just has a single dot on it, so it’s not always that easy to tell time,” he says. “I buy new phones all the time and I’ll use those to check the time. But my watch is simple and it just looks good.”